Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Catholic homes targeted by UDA

Several bottles filled with paint were thrown at the house in Tudor Vale at around 11.30pm, causing extensive damage to the property.

Last week, the PSNI offered fire blankets to Catholic families in the village due to a spate of sectarian attacks in the north Antrim area.

The UDA has vowed to force all Catholics out of the area and at least six families have already fled in fear.

Meanwhile, the UDA has also issued a warning to Catholic families moving into a mixed housing estate in the Dunmurray area near Belfast, saying they will be burned out if they don't leave.

How can this kind of sick sectarianism still be tolerated? For crying out loud this is 2005! The PSNI need to do more than offer fire blankets. Prevention is better than cure. The scumbags perpetrating these archaic acts of bigotry need to be stopped.

The BBC reports that a Catholic couple are to leave their home following the attack.

Pat McGaughey, who has lived there for eight years, said they feared for their lives. "We are not willing to take a chance on our safety," she said.

"We are going to move, we are going to leave, we'll have to sell our house and go."

Mrs McGaughey also said she felt "nothing has been said" by the church leaders or the politicians to help end such attacks.

That is the problem! Church leaders, as well as unionist and nationalist politicians, need to work together to help innocent people who are being hounded and harassed by criminal madmen.

Something must be done. Catholics cannot continue to be pushed around. If nothing is done, people will once more turn to Republicans for protection.